Rolling for Drinks [Festival]

It seemed the anonymity was lost on all as her student and friend both exclaimed her name, not that she was complaining. It would’ve been shocking if anyone who knew her didn’t already recognize her by her wolven companion. “Thank you for letting us join you, Mikaela! Haha since my sake isn’t strong enough for your tastes I’ll enjoy it all to myself then.” She gave a light giggle as he chose to order something with a bit more kick than her lightweight drink. The kunoichi couldn’t blame him for needing a strong drink, she figured her drinking companions were all heavy weights when it came to alcohol compared to herself. Her only goal was to keep up with them and not get too drunk early on.

Kuro’s ears perked up as he heard Yamato talk about him, his crimson eyes looking up at the blonde man after the compliment, the corners of his muzzle turned upward in an almost smile-like manner at the attention. Despite being a wolf in nature, he acted more like a dog in social situations, basking in the pets and compliments. “Aww thank you so much, Yamato! I think he looks absolutely adorable in his little mask too! I am so glad the owner of the mask shop custom made this for him, they are so sweet.” Hikari’s excited and cheerful voice rang out as she grinned from ear to ear, looking between Yamato and Kuro. She could spend hours fangirling over how cute the goodest boy was.

Yamato encouraged the dark haired oni mask wearing man to join their group, and in doing so revealed he was already quite inebriated. Someone has taken full advantage of the free sake at the festival, I wonder how many drinks it took him to get to this state… Hikari’s thoughts wandered to the amount Yamato had to drink in order to cause him to be far more vocal and impatient than his sober self. Or is he a light weight like me? Maybe I need to have a drinking contest with him the next time he is sober…

The red oni mask wearer took Yamato up on his invitation, walking over and joining their little group at the bar. He asked the blonde to look after him despite the fact he was already quite drunk, a worrying combo if he was to look after another person. Hikari was going to offer to look after him but bit her tongue after realizing she was most likely going to be just as bad, if not worse off, than the D-rank officer by the end of the night if they continued to play drinking games. Perhaps Kuro would be in charge of looking after all four of the drunken people by the end of the night. The thought of him pulling around all of them subconsciously caused Hikari to rub his head, apologizing in advance in case he has to babysit them.

“I am not surprised you’ve been drinking all day, Yamato. It’s a sake festival! What better way to celebrate it than to taste all that you can. I wish I had the tolerance to do that all day and still function by nightfall like you haha!” A light chuckle escaped her rosy lips as she recalled a few days before when she tried to tackle the very thing he had accomplished but ended up not being able to remember most of the night when she awoke the next morning. A few moments passed before she calmed herself down enough to continue her response, “I tried the sake a few days ago so today I took a tour of the stalls and I plan on playing some of the games tomorrow. I am having a blast so far! Are you having fun?”

She figured he had to be enjoying himself with the sake, otherwise he would’ve quit long ago, but sake wasn’t all the festival had to offer. There were performances, contests, and games galore for all to partake in and enjoy, perhaps he had even been the winner of a large tournament and wanted to brag about that. Then the unfamiliar member of the group introduced themselves as Hayato, their piercing blue eyes shining brilliantly through the crimson mask.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Oni-san. I think it is kind of fun to have the illusion of mystery by going by our masks rather than our names. You can call me Kitsune and my friend Ookami, or you can use our real names if you would prefer that.” She smiled brightly at him as she returned his polite bow. Kuro also bowed his head at the greeting before walking closer to the man and sitting down, his red eyes looking up at Oni expectantly. The wolf could sense that he wanted to interact with him after he stared at him for quite some time, and was giving the man permission to pet him. Since he was unable to interact verbally with humans he had to resort to relaying everything via actions, almost like a game of charades where they had to interpret what he meant.

Then the ever so drunk blonde of the group raised a toast with his shot, his words sweet and heartfelt as he wanted to make his toast out to the special people of the village. Watery eyes began to glisten through the eye holes on his mask as his words got stuck in his throat. She poured a shot of her own sake as he fought through the emotional barrier blocking his words, going on to take his speech in an unexpected turn. It was more comical than his reactions were portraying, his voice slowly fading out as he went on a mini monologue about how great the sake was and how he had taken it for granted when he first arrived. Hikari was always under the impression he had grown up in Tanbo, never once had the thought of him joining later on in life crossed her mind. Could he be just like me? From another village and seeking refuge here? How did he convince his former kage to grant him permission to join Tanbo as a shinobi?

“AHH!” She let out a small shriek as he suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, catching her completely off guard and, quite frankly, having spooked her. The cup of sake she had in her hand had spilled out onto the counter top, a small pool of the precious liquid reflecting off the lights hanging above. “To the sake!" She gave more emphasis to the word sake in her far more quiet cheer than her male counterpart, bringing the cup to her lips and downing the shot quickly. The sake was still as fragrant and delicious as her first shot, making it easy to down compared to their more harsh liquors. By the time she looked back down at the bar top to clean the sake off, the bartender had already wiped it down and was busy helping another customer.

That was when Mikaela piped up, announcing the game idea he had about rolling the dice and drinking that many shots. He took his turn and luckily only had to down one shot, although Hayato was not as fortunate as his dice rolled a ten. Yamato had either sneakily rolled his dice or had rolled them before her arrival, which would easily explain why he took so many shots not too long before his emotional speech. “Depends on how well you handle your liquor…as a lightweight, ten is a lot for me. But I bet you will be fine with ten, so you should have nothing to worry about!” She flashed him a grin to try and help reassure Hayato that he would be fine.

Although his reaction to the shot of sake he had might’ve crushed any reassurance she gave, as it seemed he was unaccustomed to taking shots of rather strong sake. “Would you like to try my sake next time instead? I don’t think it’s nearly as strong as the one you just tried.” After he composed himself he was sweet enough to collect the dice and hand them to her, “I guess I am next, thank you!” She closed her eyes as she shuffled the dice in her palms and opened them as she rolled the dice on the table. “Phew, at least it wasn’t twelve.” Six was a rather sizable amount for her petite self, but fared a bit better than Hayato's ten and against their stronger liquor.

Hikari poured her first shot of many, raised it up for a cheers as she said, “To my friends, that we may remember this fun filled night tomorrow!” Then she quickly downed the shot, setting the glass gently on the bar top as she savored the warm feeling pooling in her stomach. With her  hands now free she scooped up the dice and passed them to Mikaela before pouring herself another shot.

(Rolling for more drinks because why not :P)